Bird stuck in double wall chimney pipe

[knucks]

I've got a manufactured fireplace with a double wall pipe.

I climbed the roof (2 story home) and took a peak inside, the inner pipe seems to rotate but I am not sure if I should try to remove the inner pipe or if it's meant to be removed..

A bird managed to get stuck between the inner pipe and outer pipe, all the way at the bottom.

I cannot reach the bird from my fireplace.

There are metal rods keeping the inner pipe equidistant from the outer, these metal rods also make it difficult to snag the bird out.

It is on day 2 of trashing about in there..

Any suggestions?

 

[MrSurly]

Shop vac also. A stick of pvc conduit and a shop vac.


And.... some hardware cloth for afterwards

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[knucks]

Whoa, great ideas...wish I owned a shop vac..it's a pretty long chimney, more than 15ft (I know because a 15ft glow rod didn't touch the bottom..)

 

[jayoldschool]

I just went through this last week for a starling. You can't open the bottom of your cleanout T?

Take off the inside piping. Mine flew out, and tried to go out the basement window. Which he did, as soon as I opened the window and removed the screen. If it doesn't come out, you should be able to reach in through the wall and grab him in the bottom of the cleanout. Throw a towel on top to make it easier to grab, and be ready to get sooty...

Once done, cut wire screen to go around the cap. 1/2" square minimum opening!

 

[knucks]

I just went through this last week for a starling. You can't open the bottom of your cleanout T?

Take off the inside piping. Mine flew out, and tried to go out the basement window. Which he did, as soon as I opened the window and removed the screen. If it doesn't come out, you should be able to reach in through the wall and grab him in the bottom of the cleanout. Throw a towel on top to make it easier to grab, and be ready to get sooty...

Once done, cut wire screen to go around the cap. 1/2" square minimum opening!

Right so I dont think this will work, the fireplace is a pre-fab, nothing I can remove..the damper of the flue opens however the bird is not in that space, it is between the inner and outer pipe (which is all hidden behind the mantle)

 

[jayoldschool]

Gotcha. I naturally assumed it was a wood stove like mine once I read "bird". You need to get it out of there, dead or alive. Because dead... there will be flies. LOTS of them. My sister/BIL had four starlings in their chimney before they added the wire mesh to the cap.

 

[knucks]

There's literally no way I can get to it at current, maybe a shop vac but only once the bird is dead, it's moving around too much at the bottom for me to be able to get to it, and the metal rods dont allow me to 'follow' it around

 

[bzinsky]

This happened to me before, I simply started a huge fire and let it burn for a really long time. Dead animals don’t smell if you break them down into carbon

 

[Higgins]

OK, I'm late to this game, but isn't the double wall pipe crimped at both ends. Male one end, female the other? So how is a bird going to get between the inner and outer pipe???

AL

 

[knucks]

OK, I'm late to this game, but isn't the double wall pipe crimped at both ends. Male one end, female the other? So how is a bird going to get between the inner and outer pipe???

AL

Correct however it is not crimped at the very top and that's where it got in

 

[Higgins]

Correct however it is not crimped at the very top and that's where it got in

Really,

I've never seen double wall pipe that wasn't!!

Bummer !!

AL

 

[Lassen Forge]

To get the bird out you may be into some exended disassembly - possibly even detaching your flue and pulling your insert, then pulling the flue pipe as if it were a new install. Most fireplace service / flue cleaning places can do this... just be prepared to spend a few dollars...

 

[knucks]

To get the bird out you may be into some exended disassembly - possibly even detaching your flue and pulling your insert, then pulling the flue pipe as if it were a new install. Most fireplace service / flue cleaning places can do this... just be prepared to spend a few dollars...

My first thought that I could do this, however the flue and the outside pipe are one piece, essentially, so this won't work without undoing the sealant and all else starting at the top of the flashing.

I think once the bird dies I will be able to fish it out..

 

[knucks]

Update:

Bird's dead

Not a chance I can get it out, too hard to maneuver. Neighbors say the same thing happened to them some years ago,they did nothing about it, no problems ..so that's the route I'm going.
Will get some checking wire up there to cover this space though.

 

[Innovate1]

I had this happen to me many years ago. Heard birds falling down the pipe occasionally. There happened to be a dead space beside the fireplace so I added an access panel into it. Was able to separate the pipe enough to offset it and clean it out with a vac. Drilled a small hole in the outer shell of the fireplace so I could see the bottom as I recall and covered it afterward. Then added some wire mesh to the top. In hindsight I probably could have just added the mesh. They were already very dead and dried up in my case.